Astra Pt. 03

Artificial Sentient Terraforming Robotic Automaton (ASTRA)

Synopsis: With the fall of humanity the fate of its survival and resurrection resides in the hands of a very attractive female Android and the man chosen to be that champion; Jack Travus.

Inspired by so many things but not endorsed by any of them. © EmotionalStorm May 2022. This story cannot be transferred to any other site besides Literotica.com without prior authorization in writing from the author and EmotionalStorm must be credited for this work.

Author's Note: Originally released © EmotionalStorm June 2019, this is an updated version with hundreds of edits/corrections. For those who have not read my bio, please note I write as a form of therapy for a Traumatic Brain Injury. I know the English majors will probably encounter issues that annoy them. If these are your focus, instead of the story itself, then this is not the story for you. I am not and will never be a professional writer. I do it to tell the story, for those who wish to read them.

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Tim looked white and repeated, "You are going to cut off limbs?!"

Jack nodded, "Between the 2 hybrids we can create 3 more each. Those hybrids cannot make any, under penalty of death for them and the one they do it with. Not until they have claimed their swords. They cannot do that for years yet, but we will be training them with swords until then. I have a better idea for the amputations. Let Ash do the amputations with her sword. She can have it pass right through the bed and it will cut off any bleeding."

Carol took some of his blood and injected it into herself after she got on the table. Jack shook his head, "Once we see what happens we will know more. Yes, you forgot to empty that ass of yours, so the cleanup will be on you. Wait I did not put anything in there."

Everyone giggled while Sarah ran for the bathroom. It was so different with just blood. They watched the first major difference in a hybrid versus a mother when her skin went black over many parts of her body. The blood did not change the bone or plates but changed muscle instead. It did both legs but it did not include encasing the long bones. It did not change any bones. Her right arm muscle changes stopping at the wrist. The legs stopped at the ankles. Then it did her right lung and second heart.

He thought, "Based on these changes it will not do her bones and is holding some in reserve. Not making changes to her brain but also not taking her to 40%."

He heard Justice, "We did not know what would change and the young would have a similar reaction but with less, we cannot say what it would be and you are right there could be differences. A heart and lung are common, as do the leg muscles with no bone replacement or encasing as was done here. It knows she plans to be a hybrid. It has held back more than you think. It would only do around half but no more than 20% with blood alone.

She does not have psychic communication but she did receive a boost to her intellect. A small one compared to a hybrid. You must have something, buried and innate to aid in you getting psychic communications before becoming a hybrid. Others may have that. Maybe from an ancestor, we visited, but that is very doubtful."

He looked down to see the Doctor gone and Ash asked, "Talking to them again?"

Jack nodded. "The one I am talking with is a Justice. What did the percentage come out to?"

Ash looked at him, "40% in blood but the figure only an 18% change considering the bones all remain."

He nodded, "Keeps them from trying to be hybrids. They have stopped before the hands and feet."

Ash nodded, "I think you are right as muscles did not change there either. Her skin did though under those muscles that changed."

Carol returned, "I just made it to the toilet. You didn't leave anything but that does not mean nothing got broke loose."

They chuckled at her as Jack spoke, "I spoke with our contact. They were just as curious to see what it would do to a human. A small intelligence increase means it gave you a 1-2 percent modification there if that. No psychic communication abilities. Those are likely tied in with the brain plate. Though I had it before that plate and before it connected to my brain. Meltora found that odd as did they, so it is not the norm. The DNA knows of your desire to be a hybrid.

Children from me would have a roughly 10-20% mod from me. Muscles but no bones. Their skin would not show the changes as they would be born with it. No hands or feet. The second heart and lung are a likely outcome but no reinforcement of the breastplate or leg bones. Let us contact President Grendal before we get out of range."

Astra commented, "We should get the doctor a coat and you have 5 minutes before we will lose comms due to our orbit around the Sun."

Carol grabbed a coat and stood slightly behind him. He hit the button and the operator looked, "Just a moment."

A few seconds later, "Glad you contacted me."

Jack nodded, "We have less than 5 minutes before our orbits will cut out communication. We are looking at 2 to 2-3 months before we return as our consumption of materials for the projects have us going after the raw materials to be refined. We know where to get that, it just takes time. The doctor took the next step and injected herself with my blood. I will skip the details but will tell you the children will likely have a 10-20% change to their forms.

Part of that will be a mental boost and regeneration. The second heart and replaced lung are strong possibilities. Psychic talent is still unknown but consider it rare if it does occur. Muscle changes but no bone changes and no muscle or bone changes in the hands or feet, Mr. President."

He nodded, "Things have calmed down and I will have my press secretary write something up for his briefing about what the mothers might expect. A better idea but we still will not know until the children are born."

Jack nodded, "One more thing. With the changes, we have done to the timeline our ability to foresee future events will be cut way back. Natural disasters of course. The actions of those prior we will have to assess but our presence could have people thinking about being a little nicer or worse to one another."

President Grendal nodded, "The call is starting to break up. Good lu..." Before it dropped. Carol smiled, "Glad you focused on the children first given the time window."

He tried to connect to her but got nothing. He smiled, "No psychic communication. Did you try telekinesis?"

She looked and tried to draw her pen from across the room. He shook his head. "Try closer. She walked to the counter and tried. She got it to spin and rise several centimeters but that was it before she faltered."

Carol smiled, "Something to practice. Now the ladies are waiting for you upstairs."

---

They went upstairs where both of Jack's feet were taken. With some minor pain but no bleeding. Astra was on clean-up duty stand-by as the ladies all came to get their daily fixes two at a time. Sprits went for the second brain plate to help with her logic and increase her computer and electronics knowledge along with her overall intelligence. She also fought one-handed. She had been improving steadily as Jack had watched them all training from the lab.

Aiko went with modification to the opposite arm. During this time all pubic hair was gone as all of the ladies got the Core to electronically remove it all. No more shaving. Jack had all of his hair removed from the neck down. Soon Tim and his wives followed suit. There were no more fuck sessions but blowjobs on the men seemed to be a common thing. Except for Tim who was doing his ladies half the time. Jack was too aggressive to do mealtime oral sex.

The wives took to making bets on various things and the winners would get serviced during mealtime. Not to be left out. A couple of times Tim was in the dog house and those 2 did each other at the same time under the table. They got a round of applause for the 'unique punishment' Sarah and Linda put on Tim.

Jack had too many women and he never did anything to piss them all off so at least one of them always slid under the table to keep his testosterone down. They finished mining at Titan and headed for a cluster of asteroids out past Neptune. That followed the corridor to the dwarf planet as some liked to call it.

---

It took an extra 3 weeks to get the supplies needed and arrive outside the belt. They took this corridor, Corridor 3, away from Tau Ceti. They did this because of 'Hector' a massive planet that was on the outside of the belt. It had a slow orbit and was near the Tau-Ceti corridor at the moment.

The planet appeared black as night as not much of the sun's rays got to it. A rock that lacked water but temperatures as cold as space. They had the rocket, Merlin, the two-man 'sport' shuttle of the doctors called 'Red Mouser,' and the Ravager ready to go for flight testing.

Jack went first and flew Merlin. He cranked it up to half, then 3 quarters, and then full. He watched the readouts and saw the heat rising and shut it down. He also felt the pressure from the acceleration that pushed him back.

"Fact-check me, bridge, but we were going 4.75 times faster than their current shuttles?" He heard laughter and clapping, Astra called back, "You hit 5 times faster!" He nodded, "The other 3 can go, about half the distance. Keep an eye on heat reading. Take it up in one-quarter increments. I am concerned about the ID or lack of it on the rocket and her 'red mouser.'

I am awaiting a system cooldown. I can catch any out here with a tractor beam if needed. We need to get those heat sinks running and I need to check on the power consumption and fuel consumption number. Treven Engines would like the new engines but it might push changes into ship designs."

Jack checked the fuel consumption and it was 25% higher than the engines on the Excalibur. That was before and it now went two and a half times further. Power was another matter. With shields, he would have no power for weapons. He looked at the heat gauges, spun it back around and took it straight to full throttle, and immediately backed off.

It sucked him back into the seat, "Whatever you do not throw this into full throttle! We have to upgrade the inertial dampeners! I might have cracked a few ribs on that. The Hybrid plating helped with keeping me from getting crushed. Power core designs will have to be reviewed on this craft, shields, and engines with the auxiliary equipment consume 95 % of the core. Run your checklists, everyone. We will compare numbers back on board.

Assignments. Sarah, the onboard computers are not accurate on speed, you need to adjust the program. Astra and Grace, you need to go back and rerun all of the modeling simulations for this new speed. Tim, Aiko, and Sprits. Give me a hand working in the Ravager to install the FTL drive and also doing a complete structural analysis of said ship. All test craft, pilots, and unassigned crew.

We have structural scans to do on all the other spacecraft. When you run those simulations, I want atmospheric checks done on the frames and hulls. Then I want you to use the Ravager and all ships below that and run through the Death Valley Obstacle course at speed and check the retro thrusters, Astra. Once you are done with that run the Excalibur through that."

Astra replied, "The Excalibur was built in space and does not have those kinds of atmospheric engines."

Jack laughed, "Yet! It will in this time frame. Unless we plan on building a space dock to handle repairs for this one ship during this time, we better look at the numbers and find out which is easier. Especially if we are in Tau Ceti."

Astra groaned, "Will comply. I will have the core running all of the analysis as soon as Grace and I go over your flight number."

Jack nodded, "Also get feedback on any hull and frame issues collected. I will then head to the lab and start getting those heat sinks going and taking a look at the power consumption on the Ravager during that run. Then compare it to Merlin."

---

They got all of the ships docked and found structural issues on the rocket, the Red Mouser, and significant issues on the Ravager putting a hold on the FTL drive installation, let alone testing. Jack spent time in the engineering lab getting all of the heat sinks programmed.

While the others continued engine construction in the cargo bay for the 6 massive engines that would go on the Excalibur. Jack compared the power consumption numbers and concluded he would need better power relays. He could get by, for now, on the power cores if he fixed the relays. He would have to have the Excalibur re-wired so the engines were split across the two cores. With an override, if a core went down it dropped the speed to half.

Then reroute power to the other engines per pair. He pulled up the current battleship designs and saw they would have the same issue. He had to design something to link the cores instead. He wrote out the blueprints and checked the simulations for a single-engine failure to a single power core failure. He decided to go with 3 cores on the Excalibur for the engines and move the other systems to a separate 4th core. He created a multiplexer to connect the cores.

The FTL drive he would have to wait to see on the testing. He took the scans for the inertial dampeners he had and ran through everything they did. He combined some circuits. He was able to remove buffers from others and then redesigned the chassis for it from the ground up. He did all of that in just over 4 hours. He had it programmed into the fabricators for all 5 ships. He built a one-board variant for the Rocket, with no backup.

Two boards on the two-man 'Red Mouser' and 3 on the Ravager. That was when Grace walked into the lab to get him for dinner. She looked at the multiple pads he had up with 12 screens running power simulation, heating simulation, and airframe designs.

Jack called out to Astra, "Examine all existing asteroids within sensor range starting from the edge and working outward and search for titanium ore, molybdenum, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, and zirconium. I will switch the particle reactor to creating Vironidite."

Astra asked, "Why are you making that?"

Jack smiled, "Because I am putting together a design for smelting a new alloy. I have the specs on a tablet that is not connected to the main system. I have been busy designing."

Grace grabbed the tablet, "Let's go Mr. Wizard. Food. Astra, meet us in the galley."

He called out, "Starting tomorrow we will return to being dressed for safety for the foreseeable future. My wives and I have Deck two up to the blast doors before the elevator. The Crew has Deck 5 for being naked. Deck 4 has medical, the lab, the New Storage Area for ship parts, and the gym. That includes you, Astra. You can only be naked on deck 2 forward.

Grab a room to operate out of, which puts all work areas into clothing required, including safety gear. We will drop the blast doors to the forward section of Deck 2 and security code the area. To make the Dojo a clothing required area for training. We got 4 hybrids and 2 are still working on knowing their strength."

Grace groaned out and dragged him away. He finally went willingly and picked her up and put her over his shoulder. He smacked Grace's bare ass once and moved her to a cradle position.

Jack looked at her, "I never told you why I wanted you to become a hybrid because it is selfish."

Grace looked at him as they took the freight elevator to the galley on deck 3.

Grace sighed, "Let me be the judge of that."

Jack smiled, "Because hybrids will have longer lives and I wanted to keep you with me for as long as possible."

Grace smiled, "I had not factored that into my decision on the matter. It does make that offer more appealing. If I am a justice like you, I do not have to fight with the swords. I will be able to. But I am also a lawyer."

Jack nodded, "You still need to learn and know the sword. But, good point, sexy."

Jack kissed her before putting her back on her feet in the galley so they could sit. Astra took the pad and looked at the alloy.

Astra shook her head, "This is tougher than the underlying alloy they used on the battleships. Also the capital ships in my era! There is no record of this alloy in my system! Tau Ceti has Vironidite in abundance in my time but they had just begun research on it in my era. They classified the mineral as unusable with alloys because of its brittle structure. How did you get to this?!"

Jack nodded, "Combining that with the metallic hydrogen is what will bind it into a solid stable state. Then it can be mixed into an alloy as metallic hydrogen will stay bound to that element; it is the key to making it stable at room temperature. The new swords will be made with metallic hydrogen. How would they come to make it into a solid stable state at room temperature? I started wondering 'Why Tau Ceti?' I started trolling over what was in Tau Ceti that was not here.

Vironidite was one that they had abundant amounts of and only 1 of 3 new elements they found there. I modeled the reaction to the mineral and then made a small sample. Now with titanium and a few other minerals. We will have Titanium-H. I modeled the alloy and you have it in front of you."

Astra nodded, "They used metallic hydrogen as a superconductor and no attempts were made to make it an alloy or to get it into a stable solid form."

Jack nodded, "I bet that moon we go to has it and that is the reason they want us to meet there. It will give us a metal that is shapeable and strong. Something a Justice would require although all of them need it to get the writing to change for the personality of the user. It just takes more out of you as a Justice."

Sarah asked, "Why do you need it?"

Jack smiled, "To reinforce the airframes. To not have to rebuild or redesign these 3 ships. That would be the correct answer in the long run. The short-term answer is to build enough to get the 12 support beams we will need to add to the 3 existing ships.

That should work for our engine testing without a long delay. Having to go back, get a new airframe design patented, and then built for each type of craft that I have written up. From fighters to carriers and super-dreadnoughts. The carriers and super-dreadnoughts they are not ready for. It will be another century most likely before we have to see those built."

Astra looked up, "Based upon the old timeline you would be correct. You would have them ready before those events by 50-100 years!"

Jack nodded, "They would be faster, stronger, and most likely better armed. They might show up sooner as all our children out there could come up with similar designs when they are older. We will have to construct a space dock, or should I say we will have to have it built. Then a second that can be moved near, but not at Luna-1."

Grace asked, "Why?"

Jack smiled, "Being at Tera would be too disruptive. This ship, as great as it is, cannot build some of the designs I wish to build. Like a complete airframe with alloy unavailable on Earth. This ship was originally designed to be a battleship-class-sized ship, correct Astra? With 12 Engines? You know I have not gone through ship blueprints. Just this ship and only the ones you gave me and then modified to correct the deck layout."

Astra stepped back, "There were designs that used the same engine rings that were battleships. They had a much larger design though with state-of-the-art equipment. What do you want to build?"

Jack smiled, "An actual factory. When is the Tau Ceti expedition that failed set to launch?"

Astra looked through her records, "I have one going to Tau Ceti in 12 years. That one arrived. I was not given any information on the failed attempt."